Recently in my school we had a debate about this and i found this rather interesting of a subject. In tennessee they have numerous talks about it where in nashville, english is not the official language. Last year the state has spent over 100,000 dollars in translation for government uses. (according to Scholastic Upfront magazine). There are many different pros and cons on making Tennessee (along with the U.S.) their official language english. I think that the U.S. should make english their official language whereas many other states have already made english their official language, it saves money and time. The only real con to this is that it makes all U.S. immigrants to have to learn the english language before coming to the U.S.
I'm pretty sure America's official language is English. Just because some immigrants speak other languages doesn't make it a non English country.
English is the U.S's Official Language. On a side note, I believe the U.S be less tolerant about citizens who don't speak it. Seriously, last time I went to a fast food place, the lady at the register couldn't speak a word of English.
Being less tolerant won't change a damn thing. If you really want foreigners to learn the local lingo, support them to enroll in english courses. I'm bi-lingual in english and spanish, so I really don't give a rat's ass either way.
America's official language is easily considered English. Though you may state there as no official language because many people speak other languages. I've spoken to many individuals and almost every single one I've spoken to knows no other language than English, while they grew up in America. Goes to prove my point that English is the most common language used in the US and can be just as easily frequented to as our "official" language. Though you may consider it de facto you don't see more than 10% of americans speak another language.
Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English BAHUMBUG
Many people speak English here, though its not the official language: Netherlands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I've spoken to more people than the calories in 2 big macs. That's like saying "Why are there translators if America's official language is English?" BECAUSE NOT EVERYBODY KNOWS IT. Durrrr English is still more significant of an amount.
I believe the U.S. should have no official language. If a country was created by immigrants, then why should our language potential be limited to one culture? We are the melting pot of the world, where people come to seek better opportunity and a new life. Immigrants have made up the foundation of our society and transformed it to what it is now today. Based on El Diablo's census, it looks like 99.3% of the population are immigrants. If you argue that english should be the official language because it is the most spoken in this country, then what happens when the majority population becomes hispanic? I guess based off your logic we should then change our national language to spanish. P.S. (plus english is one of the hardest languages to learn)
1) My point was that even with Dutch as their official language they still know English well. 2) Ever heard of a scale example? 3) Are you saying that because America has no official language they should learn whatever? Your statement doesn't make much sense. 4) Yeah, so. That was my point entirely.
I live in Arizona, and am directly affected by Hispanic immigrants who choose not to speak English. It's hard to even go to the local fast food joint and order a burger with no onions, because most of the time the employees are Mexicans who scarcely know English. Also, in school the majority of my fellow students are Hispanic, and most every one of them speak fluent Spanish. They speak it in the halls, and even to one another during class. Teachers can't understand them, and no one wants to have the race-card pulled, so no one does anything about it. But, it severely irritates me. So what does all this have to do with our "official language"? You'd think I would be one all for English being declared our "official language", but truth be told I don't think it makes a difference. I personally don't think declaring an "official language" would change much of anything, because as displayed by some comments thus-far many consider English our official language already. I can't think of a good way to really illustrate this, but basically putting English down as America's official language is like putting weekend interests on a job regime. Nice to know, but doesn't affect anything. So what is it I believe? I believe that if you are entering another country, and wish to function as a citizen of that country, you should learn to speak the language that will best accommodate other citizens who were there before you. In America, we speak English, so if you come to America, you should speak English because that's what we speak. On the other hand, it is no secret that most American's aren't bi-lingual. Many European countries, such as Italy and France, have citizens that speak both their native language as well as English (or other languages for that matter), so as to communicate with the visitors to their nation. This is why I believe that Americans too should learn other languages besides English, because being able to communicate with people of different nationalities is an experience we all should share. Most schools in America (in my state at least) have Spanish as a required class in Elementary, Middle, and High School, with High School having additional languages. This is a good start, but most students (including myself) just stumble through these classes to get a passing grade, but never take in the language. In addition, it is basic Spanish at best. I believe schooling should put more focus into the foreign language for it's students, with higher qualified teachers and a more in depth teaching of the language. I also believe the same should be with English Language classes for those who are new to our country, and cannot speak English very well. So, in the short, declaring English as our "official language" won't do anything, we need to put more focus than currently invested into language education, to narrow the language barrier shared between humans currently.
I agree fully, but I think that even what you said may not be enough. Personally, I believe speaking English should be REQUIRED when applying for a job. I also believe that ALL teachers should be able to speak both English and Spanish fluently. After all, if people in your class are talking in Spanish, the teacher must be able to understand them, as well as be understood by all students.
We spend way more then that. It cost us millions of dollars every year for translations. And i do believe if people want to come into this country they should learn to speak English. This is a black and white question towards me.
I think that English should be the official language, and it should not be a requirement to take a foreign language to graduate. Not everyone wants to learn a different language, and if your in America, (where everyone speaks english) you shouldn't have to know the language of the immagrants. Sorry my argument isn't really well thought out, but I'm really not in an argumentative mood. I am exhausted from arguing =( EDIT: I live in Central Florida and we have a large Puerto Refer population. It can be very annoying when they talk to each other and I cannot understand them (inb4 lrn2speaktheirlanguage).
Agreed. I am already multi lingual, I don't see a need to learn another language to speak to people that move to America that don't see they should learn the language here.
How would declaring English the official language change anything? Are we going to go around asking immigrants questions in English and throwing them out when they can't answer?
Most americans speak American-English. Not English, an English Variant. E.g. In English, people say "Football" (Real Name) in American-English it is "Soccer". In English, people say "American Football" (Real Name) in American-English it is "Football". In English, people say "Trousers" in American-English it is "Pants". More examples: Colour, Color Civilisation, Civilization
I totally disregarded the point you were trying to make when you posted all of those languages and the misleading facts. Atleast you made good use of your thesaurus trying to use all those fancy words. Also, you should probably give credit to Wikipedia or some site for copying and pasting all of that. And don't write in white, its hard to read white font on a white background /fail.